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Peter Henderson. 



1822-1890. 




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Fac-simile of Mr. Henderson's last signature. 



Peter Henderson 



GARDENER— AUTHOR— MERCHANT. 



A MEMOIR. 



BY/ 



(i 



Alfred Henderson, 



NEW YORK: 
Press of McIlroy & Emmet. 



1890. 
<30 






Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1890, by 

McILROY & EMMET, 
In the Office of the Librarian of Conjress, at Washington. 



To THE Memory of 

MY MOTHER, 

This Memoir is Lovingly Inscribed. 



EXPLANATORY NOTE. 



In the preparatory announcement of this memoir, it 
was stated that it only professed to outline the magni- 
tude of Peter Henderson's services to American horti- 
culture. Those familiar with my deceased father's ca- 
reer, will quickly perceive that I have kept within the 
boundaries of that announcement. Further, I fully real- 
ize how much of his labors in many directions have not 
been touched upon at all. The original intention was to 
prepare a larger, and I had hoped a more thorough and 
careful record of his life. It was, however, suggested, 
that as such a volume from its size would preclude a 
large distribution, it would be more satisfactory at this 
time if an abridged sketch was prepared which could be 
placed in the hands of every one who had known him in 
any or all of his various relations to horticulture. 

I have, therefore, prepared this memoir on the lines 
suggested, and in begging your acceptance of it, I am 
conscious that the story has been but crudely told. At 
the same time I shall feel satisfied if I have succeeded 
in emphasizing the declaration made by one of his many 
eulogists that " Peter Henderson justly earned the honor, 
gratitude and respect of the greatest of nations." 

ALFRED HENDERSON. 

New York, December ist, 1890. 



PETER HENDERSON. 



BORN IN PATHHEAD, SCOTLAND. DIED IN JERSEY CITY, N, J. 
JUNE 9, 1822 JANUARY 17, 189O, 



T^HE 17th of January, 1890, will be a date forever 
* memorable in the annals of American horticulture; 
for, on the morning of that day, at half past ten o'clock, 
at his home in Jersey City, a gray haired man lay dead; 
a man who although long past the meridian of life was 
when death touched him still in the zenith of his fame. 

A man whose peaceful achievements had won for him 
an illustrious name throughout the land of his adoption, 
and who by his wise counsel, cheering words, and unselfish 
aid, had endeared himself to thousands of his fellow-men. 

Crowning all, by a life so true, a character so lofty,' 
that his steadfast friend John Thorpe* voiced the feel- 
ings of a multitude when he declared " that to have 
known him was an honor." That gray haired man was 
Peter Henderson, 

Half an hour after his death the sad fact was flashed, 
not only over this continent, but to other lands, where 
also the echoes of his fame had sped, and strong men 
and gentle women wept even as his kindred, at the 
termination of a career in whose unsullied glory two 
continents had a share. 

That Peter Henderson died universally regretted, the 
gardening world already knows ; but that his passing 

• "Fafher" and first President of the Society of American Florists. 



8 PETER HENDERSON. 

away left a void in thousands of hearts, pe.'haps only we 
who knew him best and loved him most, can thorough- 
ly realize. 

Yet, had we in any sense, failed to understand or ap- 
preciate either the magnitude of his services to Ameri- 
can horticulture, or the grandeur of his character, the 
host of sympathetic messages, which in the dark days fol- 
lowing his death, fell fluttering at our feet, would have 
been all-potent reminders of our irreparable loss.* 

That this remarkable man, possessed in an unusual 
degree, the power to invest all he said, wrote, or did, with 
his strong, dominant, yetkindly personality, there was no 
doubt, and while the reasons were as clear and simple 
as his own irreproachable life, here we can only outline 
a few of the many noble attributes with which he was 
endowed. 

Turning first to his business career, it will be found 
that his straightforward and generous dealings with 
over a million people, extending over forty years, made 
ills name from the outset, a synonym for all that 
is honorable in trade, and yet such characteristics alone, 
could scarcely have evoked the thousands of touching 
tributes his death called forth, for while great business 
success honorably achieved, should always command our 
admiration, still after all, such distinction is ephemeral, 
unless supplemented by deeds or works that will endure 
long after commercial success has been forgotten. Few 
are the business houses that last for a generation, and 
fewer still are they, on whose roofs the mosses of a 
century rest. 

But it is when we approach Peter Henderson, the horti- 
cultural writer, that we find his power and personality 
displayed in the highest degree. " Gardetiing for Profit " 
published in 1866, was the first book ever written ex- 
clusively on market gardening in this country, that, and 
also his subsequent works have ever since been recog- 
nized as the highest American authorities on the subjects 

* From the day of his death up to this time, November, 1S90, the family of Mr. 
Henderson have received trom all parts of the world, nearly eight thousand letters of 
sympathy and condolence. 



A MEMOIR. ' 9 

Of which they treat. The best proof of the popular 
estimation and value placed upon Mr. Henderson's 
books, is to be found in the enormous circulation and 
steady annual demand that the various edition? have 
enjoyed. Up to this time, there has been distributed 
of his six works on horticulture and agriculture, a quarter 
of a million copies, a circulation unparalleled in such 
literature in this or any other land. 

Apart from the fact that he was the first writer in this 
country to make known methods of culture in both the 
vegetable and floral departments of horticulture that 
were suited to our climate, the strong individuality of the 
man stood out on every page, and those who sought in- 
struction from his books, felt as they read, that no secrets 
of the greenhouse or garden had been withheld, that any 
new details of culture, labor-saving methods or devices, 
which in practice his practical and comprehensive mind 
had laid bare, were not only simply but completely told. 

Scarcely second to the personal influence displayed 
in his published writings was the effect of his enormous 
personal correspondence. It is quite within bounds 
to state that in the last thirty five years he wrote or 
dictated at least one hundred and seventy-five thousand 
letters. 

Of this enormous number more than two-thirds were 
written by his own hand, for until the introduction of the 
typewriter ten years ago he never used either a steno- 
grapher or an amanuensis. No correspondent, however 
humble or obscure, who applied to him for advice or in- 
formation ever asked in vain. Besides it was his in- 
variable practice to reply to correspondents at once. No 
matter how weary body or mind rnight be, all letters 
were answered the day they were received. This habit 
of promptly and fully replying to all inquiries gave 
him an influence and a personal following of such mag« 
nitude as no horticultural writer of his own or any 
previous era ever enjoyed. 



10 PETER HENDERSON. 

Biographical. 

Peter Henderson was born in Pathhead, a village 
twelve miles south of Edinburgh, Scotland, J une 9th, 
1822. He was the youngest of three children, Ann, 
James, and Peter, born to James Henderson and Agnes 
Gilchrist, his wife. The father, James Henderson, was a 
man much respected throughout the district, for his in- 
dustry, integrity, and many other excellent traits. His 
occupation was that of a land steward, and for his 
services he received a stipend of j£^o per year. Small 
as this salary ($150.) appears to our more modern eyes, 
it was no inconsiderable sum in those days. On 
this the elder Henderson brought up his children 
decently, paid for their tuition at the parish school, 
and " could ^ook the whole world in the face, for he owed 
not any man." From his father Peter inherited many 
of his best traits as well as the superb health which was 
afterward'^ such a factor in helping him to success. To 
his mother's side however he was indebted for his intellect- 
ual endowments. His maternal grandfather, Peter Gil- 
christ, (born in 1740, died in 1810,) in whose honor he 
was named, was early in life a shepherd, but later on 
became a nurseryman and florist. 

Peter Gilchrist was an unusually studious man, and 
for his station in life the possessor of a pretentious 
library. It is related of him that on one occasion he paid 
;^2o. for a copy of Matthew Henry's Commentaries 
on the Bible, an enormous sum for a man of his means 
a century ago. He was a mar of marked ability and wield- 
ed a very considerable influence, in fact, he was the 
imiversal referee for the district on all disputed questions. 
Grandfather and grandson must have had many mental 
traits in common, for the grandson later on in his larger 
field, was arbitrator and referee scores and scores of 
tiiaes on matters both within and without the domain of 
horticulture. 

Peter was sent at an early age to the parish school 
where he first exhibited that marvelous industry which 
all through life w.is his great distinguishing characteris- 



A MEMOIR. II 

tic. At the same time his sister, Mrs. McDouj^ai, says 
that a utilitarian instinct was very marked all through 
his school-days, and relates that in the last six months 
of his school life having a chance to take up Latin, 
while he embraced the opportunity, he grumbled con- 
siderably, because as he said, he could see no practical 
use for it. 

His mother died when he was eight years old, and as 
his father never married again, the boys, James and 
Peter, were cared for by their sister. His elder brother, 
Mr. James Henderson, who was an unusually popular 
and genial man, died in Jersey City in 1857. Of the three 
children born to James Henderson of Pathhead, Mrs. 
McDougal alone remains, a venerable and cultured lady, 
now in her seventy-fifth year, of whom her illustrious 
brother was wont to say, " that as long as he had known 
her he had never heard her make an unkind remark of 
any human being." 

The amusements of country lads in the south of Scot- 
land at that date were limited, their spare time being 
mostly spent in hunting for birds-nests and for the eggs 
of jack-daws, (a small species of crow.) The ruins of 
Crichtoun Castle, so graphically described by Sir Walter 
Scott in his poem of Marmion, is but a short distance 
from where Peter Henderson passed his boyhood's days. 
" Crichtoun ! though now thy miry court, 

But pens the lazy steer and sheep, 

Thy turrets rude, and tottered Keep, 
Have been the minstrel's loved resort. 
Oft have I traced within thy fort, 

Of mouldering shields the mystic sense, 

Scutcheons of honor, or pi-etence, 
Quartered in old armorial sort, 

Remains of rude magnificence." 

The old ruin was a great resort for jack-daws in his 
time, and he was ever fond of telling of the dangerous 
risks he and other youngsters ran in hunting there for 
their nests. Another diversion out of which serious conse- 
quences often flowed, were the battles with stones that 
occurred between contending factions of the village lads. 



12 PETER HENDERSON. 

In these battles the " boy was father to the man," for 
Peter Henderson always commanded one side. A story 
is told of him which forcibly illustrates his fertility in 
resource, even in his very early days. He could not 
have been over seven years old when an old gun a foot 
or two taller than himself came into his possession. He 
had powder, but no bullets, and of what use was a gun 
to a boy without bullets ? At last he remembered that 
in the rear of Crichtoun House, (the residence of his 
father's employer) the lower windows were protec- 
ted by iron bars, sunk in stone and soldered with lead. 
H e got all the lead there he needed for his bullets. A day 
or two later the desecration was discovered and a hue and 
cry was raised, but the small offender was never detec- 
ted. Fifty-five years afterwards in visiting the scenes 
of his boyhood, he was interested enough to show Mrs. 
Henderson the spot where he had obtained the lead for 
his bullets, and to his astonishment the holes had never 
been filled up and the traces of his jack-knife were still 
plainly visible. 

The desire common to so many ambitious country- 
bred boys to find their way to large cities, took possession 
of him at the age of fifteen, when his school-days ended. 
The first chance came in the offer of a position in a liquor 
store in Edinburgh. The scenes he there saw were suffi- 
cient in a few months to make him give up his position and 
thus was laid the foundation of the temperance prin- 
ciples that he advocated and maintained all his life. 
Peter Henderson was perhaps as proud of this incident as 
of any experience in his career ; because he returned to 
his native village as uncontaminated as when he left it. 

At the age of sixteen the dawn of his renown began 
to glimmer, when he was indentured as an appren- 
tice in the gardens of Melville Castle, situated near Dal- 
keith, which under the direction of the then head- 
gardener, George Sterling, was considered the best 
training school in all Scotland. Mr. Sterling^ was a 
character, and his famous pupil in after years never 
wearied of quoting his quaint remarks. He was, too, a 



A MEMOIR. 13 

great disciplinarian, and such of his apprentices who 
were able to stand his four years' rule had but little 
trouble afterwards in securing positions. 

There seems to have been a gap between his Edin- 
burgh experience and his procuring a more congenial 
position. In that interval he had no rredilection 
for the profession of which in after years he was to 
be such a great exponent. In fact his expressed desire 
at that time was to enter a banking office. When his 
old and life long friend Mr. Hugh Wilson, now of Salem, 
Mass., "vdio was then employed in the gardens of Melville 
Castle, suggested to him that he should become a 
gardener, he refused to entertain the idea at first, and 
only took it up finally because nothing better offered. 
As soon, however, as he entered on his work at Melville 
Castle, he became enthusiastically interested, especially 
in botanical nomenclature. He had only been a few 
months in his new position when Mr. Ballantyne, a 
nurseryman in Dalkeith, asked Mr. Sterling to name his 
collection of hardy herbaceous plants that had become 
badly mixed. Sterling replied that he would send " ane 
o' his callants doon " * to name them and selected Peter 
for the task. The naming was done so quickly and so 
correctly that Mr. Ballantyne rewarded the youth with a 
sovereign, and complimented him on the good use he had 
made of the short time he had been at the business. In 
his talk with him, Peter told how during the summer 
he had employed his spare time in making a herbarium 
to familiarize himself with botanical names. Mr. Ballan- 
tyne told him to bring it to him when finished, and it 
pleased him so much that he presented him with a silver 
medal,which he had intended to offer as a herbarium 
prize to a local society. The following season 
Peter Henderson competed for and won the medal 
offered by the Royal Botanical Society of Edinburgh 
for the best herbarium of native and exotic plants ; 
a competition open to the whole of Great Britain, This 
gave him a practical knowledge of botany which 

• "One of his young men down." 



14 PETER HENDERSON. 

was afterwards of great benefit to him as a horticultural 
writer. 

The above incident shows, that George Sterling dis- 
covered in his young apprentice a bright pupil and 
secretly was very proud of him, yet delighted to find fault 
and Squeers-like teach him practical lessons. Thus on 
several occasions he had to lecture him on the difference 
between " dry " and " killing dry " as affecting plant life. 

It happened that Peter on more than one occasion had 
allowed batches of plants in the greenhouse, to get into 
the " killing dry " state, and finally one day after a more 
henious offense than usual, Mr. Sterling took him by the 
ear and marched him up, that he might see the results of 
his inattention. This practical illustration was so suc- 
cessful that the Nestor of American horticulture never 
again forgot its meaning. 

We have stated that the gardening course at Melville 
Castle covered four years, and it may not be uninterest- 
ing to state the wages paid apprentices at that time. 
The first year they received nine shillings a week, the 
second ten shillings, the third eleven shillings, and the 
fourth twelve shillings ; a shilling being equal to 25 
cents of our American money. Out of these wages the 
young men fed and clothed themselves, but were lodged 
in a building connected with the greenhouses and known 
as the " Bothy." Life in the " Bothy " was free and 
eas)'^, and, on the whole rather comfortable. Each ap- 
prentice took his turn a week at a time, to cook and do 
the housework. 

The food was very plain, consisting morning and 
evening of " halesome parritch (porridge) chief of Scotia's 
food." The noon meal nearly always consisted of pota- 
toes and milk, and skim milk at that. Once a week, on 
Sundays, they indulged themselves in coffee and bread 
and butter. 

During the four years they did not taste meat of any 
kind on more than a dozen occasions, and yet Mr. Hen- 
derson has repeatedly stated that not a single man lost 
a day by sickness in all that time. 



A MEMOIR. 15 

It was during his term at Melville Castie that the 
gardens of a large private place, which had formerly 
been open to the public, were closed. As the place 
contained a very fine collection of plants, the eight or ten 
young radicals, in the " Bothy '* of Melville Castle, held 
a council of war and decided that each should prepare an 
article for the press protesting against the owner's 
action in barring out the public. 

When the apprentices met again, the articles were 
read, and the one contributed by Peter Henderson, the 
youngest of them all, was unanimously adopted as the 
best expression of their views. It was published, and 
although its author years afterwards admitted that the 
view taken was entirely erroneous, the article was suffi- 
ciently strong and able to call forth a half column reply 
from one of the leading London papers. 

While at Melville Castle, he first put into practical 
application his temperance principles, by example and 
entreaty inducing most of his companions to abstain 
from going to the village tavern Saturday nights, which, 
previous to his arrival had been the regular custom. 

It was during his 'prentice days, not content with the 
education he had received at school, that he and Mr. 
Wilson walked ten miles twice a week for a year, to at- 
tend a mathematical class in Edinburgh. And his thirst 
for knowledge was so strong, that in his first apprentice 
days, his companions in the " Bothy " used to laugh at 
him for reading the Dictionary at his r^ieals. He kept 
at it for six months, until he finished it, and then pro- 
nounced it a most interesting book, "no matter what 
others might say." The practical outcome of it was 
that his *' Bothy " companions found that when he was 
through, he could spell and define any word which they 
might put to him. But, with all his studiousness and 
industry he was not a recluse by any means, for there 
is ample testimony to show that in all the frolics of the 
country side he was always the leading spirit. 

Old Adam Kitcen, for fifty-two years carpenter at 
Melville Castle, where he still plies the hammer and saw, 



l6 PETER HENDERSON. 

remembered him well and told our envoy last spring that 
" Peter was a shrewd, kindly lad and most industrious." 

Mr. Kitchen also has reason to remember him from an 
experience he suffered at the hands of Peter and two or 
three other kindred spirits. He had just been married 
and was bringing his bride home to his cottage, and 
when he reached there, he found that all the doors and 
windows had been so effectually barricaded that it took 
considerable time to gain an entrance. 

But the time had arrived when he was to turn his face 
to the New World, at that time a terra incognita in Britain 
to the gardening profession, the land, however, destined 
to be the real arena of his labors and triumphs. Before 
following him to America, we must note an incident 
conne ted with his departure from " Bonnie Scotland" 
whici' reveals another ano. delicate phase of his character. 
This anecdote only became known to us after his death. 

It seems that Miss Melville, d.ughter of Lord Melville, 
had been, very kind to both Peter Henderson and Hugh 
Wilson, and just before their departure for America, 
both young men wished to show their appreciation of her 
thoughtfulness. They had little to give, but decided 
that they would present her with their herbariums. In 
some way Mr. Wilson presented his first, and in return 
Miss Melville forced a sovereign into his unwilling hands. 

When Hugh reported to Peter what had been done, he, 
fearing that his motives might be misconstrued if he 
presented the herbarium in person, arranged that it 
should not be sent to Miss Melville until the day he sailed 
for New York, When it is remembered that he arrived 
in New York with but three sovereigns in his pocket, this 
episode will show the mettle of the youth, in putting 
bevond his reach, what would have been a considerable 
addition to his cash capital. 



A MEMOIR. 17 

Arrival in America, and First Gardening 
Experiences. 

It was in the spring- of 1843 that he arrived in New 
York, after a six- weeks' voyage in a sailing vessel, called 
the Rosciits. 

On the threshold of his American career, he met with 
an experience, for which many a struggling gardener 
had in after years reason to feel grateful. After 
landing-, he started out to look for work, and, as was the 
custom in those days, as it is now, called first at a down- 
town seed-store.* He courteously asked the proprietor 
if he had a situation open for a gardener ? The pro- 
prietor, who was seated reading- a newspaper spread out 
on the desk before him, did not even take the trouble to 
look u,p from his paper, but gave him the surliest kind 
of a " No," for an answer. The almost brutal manner 
of his reception made such an impression on the youth, 
that before he reached the sidewalk, he vowed that if 
the time ever came when he should be in a position, 
where men should apply to him for assistance in finding 
situations, if he could not aid them, he would at least 
always remember to treat them courteously and kindly. 
Commonplace as this incident seems, but few have any 
conception of how fraught it was with good to the mul- 
titude of private gardeners, who in the past thirty-five 
years applied to him for situations. Among the many 
thousands of letters of sympathy and condolence received 
by Peter Henderson's family after his death were hun- 
dreds from private gardeners; and the burden of their 
messages nearly always was, *' 1 have lost my best 
friend." 

After his rebuff at the seed store, he at once 
secured employment in the nurseries of George 
Thorburn, at Astoria, L."I., where he remained a year. 
Thence, to broaden his experience, he went to Robert 
Buist, Sr., at Philadelphia, then the leading nurseryman 
and florist in the United States. Mr. Buist was at once 

* The seed-store in which he was so ooldly received, has not been in existence f.>r 
over a quaiter of a century. 



i8 PETER HENDERSON. 

impressed by the young gardener's energy and industry, 
and a warm friendship sprung up between them, which 
terminated only with Mr. Buist's death. In after years 
Mr. Buist said that he was the best and most skillful 
workman he ever had. From Philadelphia he next 
secured a position as private gardener with Mr. Chas. 
F. Spang, of Pittsburgh. He travelled by canal from 
Philadelphia in charge of greenhouse material; and Mr. 
Henderson often spoke of this trip as a most delightful 
experience, lasting as it did for nearly three weeks of 
delightful weather, giving him ample time and oppor- 
tunity to botanize by the way. During his stay at Pitts- 
burgh,! he remodeled Mr. vSpang's greenhouses and 
grounds. 

The country at this time was greatly excited over the 
Mexican war, and as his prospects did not seem over 
bright, he decided to enlist in the army. Indeed so bent 
was he upon taking this step, that Mr. Spang argued the 
point with him until nearly midnight before he succeed- 
ed in dissuading him from his purpose. He ever looked 
upon this as the turning point in his career and always 
felt gratefui to Mr. Spang for dampening his martial ardor. 
He remained in Pittsburgh until he had accumulated a 
capital of $500, with which in 1847 he, in partnership with 
his brother J ames, who had about the same amount, started 
in the market garden business in Jersey City. The place 
they rented contained about ten acres and had three 
small greenhouses on it, one 50 feet long by 20 feet wide, 
and the others 40 feet long by 16 feet wide. For the 
first two years it was a hard struggle, but the energy and 
industry of the brothers pulled them through. After a few 
years they dissolved partnership, Mr. James Henderson 
buying a new place, in what is now known as the hill sec- 
tion of Jersey City, and devoting himself to vegetable 
growing entirely. 

Peter Henderson continued at the old place; and as 
lie found the taste for ornamental gardening increasing, 
he began to add to his greenhouse department, which 
eventually superseded the market earden, but for 



A MEMOIR. 19 

years he personally and successfully conducted both the 
market garden and greenhouse departments, spending 
more than half of his working hours in his shirt sleeves, 
often drenched to the skin while leading his men in 
some active operation out of doors. 

Finding his quarters limited, he bought a plot of ground 
of about six acres back of Jersey City, which he cultiva- 
ted until aboiit 1 863, when the greenhouse department be- 
■came jo extensive, and its demands on his time so exact- 
ing, that he sold the " Back Lane " place, as it was called, 
and devoted himself solely to the Jersey City establish- 
ment, which by this time, in addition to the market 
:garden, included twelve greenhouses, besides a large 
number of pits and frames. 

The amount of labor he performed in those days was 
prodigious; he would rout out his force of men every 
morning by day-break and all operations, either of 
garden or greenhouse, he led personally. Often in the 
bu-^y season, the day's labor would be carried on in the 
greenhouses until ten or eleven o'clock at night, where by 
lamp light, cuttings would be made, plants potted and 
staked, and labels written, — it being an iron-clad rule that 
no plant was to be sold or delivered unless properly and 
■distinctly labeled. The wooden tallies or labels which for 
years past have been turned out by machinery by 
millions, were in the 50's made by hand. Cedar posts 
would be sawn and split into convenient lengths and 
then with knives were t hittled down to label size. The 
younger members of the force, in the spring and sum- 
mer mornings, used to make up bouquets which were 
retailed by boys in the streets of New York in the after- 
noon. He, however, soon gave up selling cut flowers in 
this way. 

About 1853, he opened an office in New York with 
Mcllvain & Orr, afterwards Mcllvain & Young, at No. 9 
John street, where during the spring and early summer 
months he sold and took orders for deliver}^ the next 
•da/, of such greenhouse and vegetable plants as were 
in season; and in addition Mr. Mcllvain sold plants ir> 



20 PETER HENDERSON. 

small lots, at auction for him from about 1 1 :3o A. M., 
until I P. M., daily. This however was done more as an 
advertisement, as his sales were principally from orders 
received personally and by mail. He was then, as 
always, a very busy man, and so jealous of wasting- time, 
even at lunch, that he had a waiter at the restaurant he 
frequented, under pay to watch for his coming, and 
as soon as his face appeared in the doorway, his dinner 
would be on the table by the time he got there. 

In 1864, he gave up the grounds he had so long occu- 
pied in Jersey City and moved to what was then known 
as South Bergen, distant a mile from his old place. 
Here he had been buying from time to time until he had 
secured nearly ten acres. On this he erected what was 
at that time considered a model range of greenhouses, 
heated and ventilated in the best known methods then 
in vogiie. 

This range of glass structures was visited by himdreds 
of florists to whom it served as an example for years. 

In 1880, all these houses were pulled down and recon- 
structed, as experience had shown they could be im- 
proved upon; so a second time his greenhouse establish- 
ment served as a model and as such it still remains 
to-day. At the time of his death this part of his estab- 
lishment covered over five acres solid in glass. 

Busy as his life was he devoted no little of his time to 
helping beginners in his own line of business, often 
going long distances for this purpose. His advice as to 
the selection of suitable land was considered invaluable, 
and his judgment as to the construction and heating of 
greenhouses, and the selection of the most profitable 
classes of plants to grow, was unerring. A marked con- 
firmation of this appeared tv/o months ago in a sketch 
of the present president of the Society of American 
Florists, Mr. M. H. Norton, wherein it is stated that 
when he first started business with his brother, and 
began the culture of bedding plants and violets in span- 
roofed greenhouses, the latter being quite a venture at 
that time, that, " one of their first and best advisers was 



A MEMOIR. 21 

the late Peter Henderson, and that his advice was sound 
is demonstrated by the abundant success of the young 
firm from the very start." 

While thus busily engaged in all operations of the 
greenhouse and garden, he was a frequent contributor to 
the various horticultural journals, the Gardener s Afonihiy, 
the Horticulturist, Tilton's Journal of Horticulture, ''while it 
lived) and the Ainerican Agriculturist rarelv issuing a num- 
ber without something original and time y from his pen. 

By the increased facilities and economical methods he 
now used, the output of plants had become so large and 
the competition so keen that he felt constrained to 
send his surplus stock of plants to auction, and with his 
accustomed energy and foresight established a system 
of growing plants for auction only. This also was a 
marked success from the start, and is now looked upon 
as a legitimate part of the business in New York and 
other large cities. 

His quick brain was constantly on the alert for simpli- 
fying and cheapening the cost of production; and by ex- 
ample and by words, he was ever urging those ^mder 
him to seek short cuts in all their methods. This con- 
stant striving not only brought its due reward, but to 
Peter Henderson, more than to all others, are the florists 
and market gardeners of this country indebted for the 
shortening of the multifarious operations of both green- 
house and garden. Scores of these methods are indelibly 
associated with his name, and almost as many more 
have lost the connecting link with the master mind with 
whom they originated. To him, more than to any one 
man in this country, is due the raising of the florist's 
business to the level of other mercantile pursuits. 

He retained his ofhce at No. 9 John street until 1862, 
when by his advice, James Fleming and Wm. J. Davidson, 
two bright j'oung Scotch gardeners, having opened a 
seed store at 67 Nassau street, he moved his ofhce to 
their store, abandoning the auction part and relying 
wholly on his annual catalogue and newspaper advertis- 
ing, which he had just then begun, for the development 



22 PETER HENDERSON. 

of the business. In 1865 he bought Mr. Davidson's share 
in the seed business, the firm then becoming Henderson 
& Fleming. He continued with Mr. Fleming for six 
years, when the partnership was dissolved. 

Establishment of the Seed Department. 

In 1 87 1, on his forty-ninth birthday — an age when 
most business men begin to think of laying their armor 
down — he established, in Cortlandt street, New York, the 
seed business, now known to the whole world under 
the name of Peter Henderson & Co. The partners in 
the original firm were Peter Henderson, Wm. H. Carson 
and Alfred Henderson. In 1876 Mr. Carson withdrew,, 
and a new partnership was formed between Peter Hen- 
derson, James Reid, and Alfred Henderson. Mr. Reid 
died in 1887, and from that year until the death of its. 
honored founder, the firm was composed of Peter Hen- 
derson and his sons, Alfred and Charles. While person- 
ally most of his time was taken up at the greenhouses, 
he still was able to throw an enormous amount of energy 
into this department, which, from its very nature, is 
capable of a much greater expansion than that of plants, 
articles almost exclusively a luxury. His fertility in 
devising schemes for its development was something 
phenomenal, even to those most familiar with his works 
and ways. Scarcely a day passed but what practical 
and valuable suggestions were thrown off from his busy 
brain. He it was who first conceived, as early as 1872,. 
the idea of offering to the horticultural public, the oppor- 
tunity of procuring all their supplies from one firm. 
This idea was quickly perfected in its details and found 
its expression in a phrase of his own coinage " Every- 
thing for the Garden," a term in a business sense, almost 
synonomous with the name of Peter Henderson. His 
long experience as a market gardener probably made 
him realize more than most seedsmen, the necessity of 
testing seeds before offering them for sale, but what- 
ever the cause, the fact remains, that he was the first in 
this country to initiate the true and natural way of prov- 



A MEMOIR. 23 

ing the vitality of seeds — that is, by sowing the in in the 
soil, the seedman's usual plan being to germinate them 
in moist cotton or flannel — nearly always a misleading 
method. Not only this, but annually in his trial grounds 
he made certain of their purity by thorough comparative 
tests. His judgment as to the value of new varieties of 
both seeds and plants was alrnost infallible; and there 
are very few novelties that he endorsed bu' have 
stood the test of general culture, and are to-day recog- 
nized as standard sorts. That he originated and intro- 
duced more valuable new seeds and plants than any 
other one man in America is a fact that those competent 
to judge, will quickly admit. 

His Services to the New York Horticultural 
Society. 

In 1874, the New York Horticultural vSociety, after be- 
ing practically defunct since i860, was resuscitated, very 
largely through his efforts. He gave a considerable 
portion of his time to its reorganization, and though he 
would never accept any prominent office, he attended 
all its meetings faithfully, and by his contributions to its 
various exhibitions and his liberality in offering special 
premiums for essays and exhibits at its monthly meet- 
ings, assisted materially in making it a success. He was 
also a zealous member of the Society of American 
Florists and — recollecting his own early experience, — at 
the convention held in Chicago in 1888, offered a pre- 
mium of $100 for the best herbarium of native plants 
gathered within the year, and correctly named, to be 
competed for at the ineeting at "Buffalo the following 
year. This offer brought out several excellent exhibits, 
the second best of which was so good that he voluntarily 
gave ^50 as an award for the painstaking manner in 
which it was mounted and arranged. 

Catalogue and Advertising Skill. 
Any record of the business career of Peter Henderson 
would be incomplete that overlooked the skill and origin- 
ality which he continually displayed in the pi-eparation 
of his plant and seed catalogues. Until within the last 



24 PETER HENDERSON. 

ten years, he personally wrote and prepared all the 
matter for the plant catalogues, and after the seed de- 
partment had been added, he also wrote the important 
portions of it for many years. He had the rare gift of 
beiag terse, and at the same time, comprehensive and 
interesting in his description of the articles he had to 
offer. His newspaper apd magazine advertising also 
exemplified his wonderful versatility. Not only did 
he show great skill in the wording of advertisements, 
but in their mechanical appearance they were always 
bold and original, and in their results nearly always 
successful. It is believed that the use of a heavy black 
border, which so often surrounded or enclosed his adver- 
tisements, originated with him many years ago. For 
effectiveness in arresting the reader's attention, it has 
seldom been surpassed by any advertising device. It must 
be admitted that it never added beauty to an advertise- 
ment ; and it is also only fair to say that it worried for years 
many publishers who fluctuated between a laudable 
desire to have the advertisement in their papers, and a 
violation of their aesthetic tendencies. 

The use of a fac-simile of an advertiser's autograph, 
he always considered a most effective addition to an ad- 
vertisement, when it could be brought in. In his own 
practice his written signature was always largely used. 
This idea was a borrowed one, he first noticing Joseph 
Gillott's pens advertised i:i that way years before he 
ever supposed that he should become a great adv^ertiser 
himself. 

There are few pursuits in which the business depart- 
ments are more weighted with detail, anxiety, or vexa- 
tious annoyances, than the occupations in which Peter 
Henderson loomed x\p supreme. It was always the rule 
of his life to attack first whatever work was the most 
difficult or disagreeable. Exasperating details that others 
would shirk he would take hold of and patiently and 
thoroughly carry to completion. In his business, as in 
other work, he was even in his last days as eager and en- 
thusiastic as a man of twenty-five. The optimistic spirit 



A MEMOIR. 25 

lie carried into his own business interests, always broad- 
ened when he came to speak of the future of American 
horticulture. In August, 1886, he read an address on 
*" Floriculture in the United States in the Past Forty Years " 
before the wSociety of American Florists at their annual 
convention in Philadelphia. Coming from the man who 
was always the central figure at its gatherings, its conclu- 
sion heregiven, invests it with more than ordinary interest. 
" If the business increases in the same ratio for the 
next forty years, rest assured the now humble florist will 
have a place in the community, and that the increase 
will even be greater, there is good reason to believe. In 
the early days of floriculture, nearly all the men engag- 
ing in the business were " old-country men," who had 
been private gardeners, often lacking in education and 
intelligence and utterly untrained from the nature of 
their occupation, in business habits. Now hundreds of 
young men, with their better opportunities of education, 
are training in the business in all sections of the country, 
and I think it safe to predict that the leading florists, forty 
years hence, will be far better business men than even 
the most prominent among us now. And it may be that 
when the Society of American Florists meets again, in 
this good old city, four decades hence, some other vet- 
eran, now a stripling here to-day, will tell as I have done, 
of the primitive ways of the craft, as practised " forty 
years ago." 

His Books, and other Contributions to Horticul- 
tural Literature. 

Peter Henderson's first horticultural writings in this 
country appeared in Hoveys Magazine, published in 
Boston. The initial article was on the transplanting of 
large trees, and written while he was in Pittsburgh. In 
concluding the article he in effect said that he was 
" more at home handling a spade than a pen." Mr. Chas. 
M. Hovey, editor and owner of the magazine, was struck 
with the vigor and originality with which he wrote and 
encouraged him to continue his contributions, and 



26 PETER HENDERSON. 

several years later, when he had settled in Jersey City, 
Mr. Hovey decided to see for himself what his young 
correspondent was like. He found him not literally 
handling a spade, but doing pretty nearly the same thing 
when he discovered him on the top of a manure pile, turn- 
ing it with a fork. Soon after this, he began to write for the 
Horticulturist, then the only horticultural magazine pub- 
lished in New York ; The Gardener s Monthly, Philadel- 
phia ; Moore's Rural New- Yorker, Rochester, N. Y. ; The 
Country Gentleman, Albany, N. Y., and other kindred 
publications. For some time his contributions were on 
vegetable culture almost exclusively, but as he drifted 
into the ornamental branch of horticulture, his articles 
began to cover that department also. Whether as a 
market gardener, a florist, or a seedsman, Peter Hender- 
son always considered himself just what these designa- 
tions imply. That his writings materially aided in 
building up the different branches of his business is be- 
yond all question. In fact, from the beginning, all his 
literary work was done in his leisure intervals, or taken 
from time that he considered legitimately belonged to 
his business. At the same time his nature and character- 
istics were such, that whether it redounded to his 
benefit or not, the horticultural world always heard 
from him, when he had any thing to say that he 
believed would be of general interest or value. The 
fact is, that it was inherent in the man to add his quota 
to the sum of human knowledge. Corroborations of 
this without number could be given, but a single instance 
will suffice. As far back as 1866, in a magazine 
discussion over horticultural patents, among other things 
he said : " I consider that man particularly unfortu- 
nate who asks a patent for what he thinks to be a dis- 
covery in horticulture, for there is a free masonry about 
the craft which begets a generous exchange of informa- 
tion, and he that holds a * secret ' to himself or in- 
trenches his 'discovery' behind a patent right is not usually 
benefited thereby ;" and further on in the same article, 
he says : " I never was good at keeping a secret." Such 



A MEMOIR. 27 

were his views twenty-four years ag-o, and such would 
be his views were he alive to-day. For whether in the 
domain of the vegetable garden, or in the more delight- 
ful pursuits of the greenhouse, this earnest, watchful, 
and thoughtful man was ever near to Nature's heart, 
and bit by bit he wrested from her, cultural secrets 
which later on would be quickly made known, so that 
all who chose might reap the benefit of his ceaseless 
observation and experience. 

His first book, Gardening for Profit, was written in 
the summer of 1866. Although he was then well-known 
as a hortic.iltural writer, yet his modesty was such, tiiut 
when the late Dr. George Thurber, then editor of the 
American Agriculturist approached him on the matter 
of writing this book, he refused to attempt it because he 
felt that writing a book was beyond his capability. He 
was finally convinced, however, that the hour and the 
man had come. Whenever he decided to do any thing, it 
was settled, he never looked back, and he wrote this re- 
markable book in the incredibly short time of one hun- 
dred hours. By this it is not meant, that Gardening 
for Profit was produced consecutively in that time, but 
he had the information right at his finger-ends, so that the 
aggregate of time he spent on the book was within the 
limit named. This work brought a national reputation 
to its author, and its value to the United States is be- 
yond computation. A peculiarity of its production was 
that it was written at a time when its author was work- 
ing at least sixteen hours a day, and largely at manual 
labor. At the noon intervals and late at night he wrote 
this work lying on his back with a pillow under his head, 
or quite as often, writing while lying face downward. 
We have said that its value to the nation can never be 
estimated, and it is a fact that the first edition appearing 
so soon after the close of the war, rendered it of special 
and inestimable value to the Southern States. The enor- 
mous market-gardening or trucking interests which have 
been for years and are to-day, such a factor in the South 's 
prosperity, owe their birth and subsequent development 
largely to the teachings of Gardening for Profit. 



28 PETER HENDERSON. 

Gardening for Profit was twice revised by its author 
since its first publication in 1866 ; the first time in 1S74, 
the last time in 1886. The demand for this work has 
always been so larg-e that the publishers have never 
been quite able to accurately estimate the demand. Up 
to this time not less than forty-one editions having been 
printed. His immortal countryman, Robert Burns, 
wrote his famous poem " Tam O'Shanter " in a day, and 
one of his biographers has said of it " that since the 
battle of Bannockburn it was the best single day's work 
ever done in Scotland." So in another sense there are 
thousands to-day who believe that it can be fairly claimed 
for Gardening for Profit, that no better one hundred 
hours' work was ever done on this side of the Atlantic, 
than when Columbia's adopted son laid his grand and 
grateful tribute at her feet. 

The great success of his first book stimulated him to 
produce in 1868, Practical Floriculture, which was written 
to teach how flowers and plants could best be grown for 
profit. This book did for aesthetic gardening what its 
predecessor had accomplished for material horticulture — 
established thousands in a safe and profitable business. 
In 1875 his prolific pen launched a third work. Gardening 
for Pleasure, which was intended to, and has fully met 
the wants of those desiring information on gardening 
for private use, and who have no desire to make it a 
business. Its scope therefore was made greater than 
either of its predecessors, as it embraced directions for 
the propagation and culture of flowers, vegetables and 
fruits. A thoroughly revised and enlarged edition of 
this work appeared in 1888. Another volume which he 
published in 1884, called Garden and Farm Topics, consist- 
ing of a number of essays containing special information 
in a condensed form, has been one of the most interest- 
ing of Peter Henderson's horticultural contributions. 
Apart from the practical value of these essays, this volume 
gives perhaps a better idea of his versatility, his keen 
sense of humor, and finally the scientific spirit that he 
undoubtedly possessed than any of his larger and more 
important works. 



A MEMOIR. 29 

In 1 88 1, appeared the most pretentious work he had 
yet evolved, Henderson s Hand Book of Plants. This was 
a condensed encyclopedia of over four hundred pages, 
giving the botanical classification, methods of propaga- 
gation, and culture of both useful and ornamental 
plants, &c. While this work met with a flattering re- 
ception, its author felt that it had been too hastily pre- 
pared, and so, early in 1889, with his characteristic 
energy and industry, the work was not only revised but 
re-written and greatly enlarged. To those who saw the 
zeal and enthusiasm he threw into what was destined to 
be his last contribution to a literature he had already done 
so much to enrich, a tender interest will always cluster 
around this, his last work. The story has been told be- 
fore, but no sketch, however meagre, of its author can 
pass it by. Mr. Henderson read, corrected and passed 
the last pages of the new edition December 26th, 1889, 
and a week later, January 3d, 1890, he was stricken with 
the sickness whicb on January 17th, following, culmin- 
ated in his death. The delay incident to the printing- 
and binding of the book, made the middle of February 
reached before copies were received, so that the bound 
and completed volume he never saw. This last edition 
is so much fuller and more comprehensive than its pre- 
decessor, as to have merited in the opinion of several 
leading horticultural journals a new and more compre- 
hensive title. 

His fertile mind opened up an entirely new vein in 1 884, 
when in conjunction with Mr. William Crozier, one of the 
best known and most successful farmers in the country^ 
he produced the work, How the Far^n Fays. While Mr, 
Henderson was not a farmer, yet his long and varied ex- 
perience in gardening peculiarly fitted him to share in 
this work. How the Farm Fays was produced by the aid 
of a stenographer, Mr. Henderson's questions and Mr. 
Mr. Crozier's replies being taken down just as they were 
spoken. As the authors progressed, the benefit of this 
plan was found, in that the answer often suggested 
other questions, and it has always been considered that 



30 PETER HENDERSON. 

the value of the book was augmented by this plan. Quite 
a portion of this book is taken up by Mr. Henderson's indi- 
vidual cultural directions on certain vegetable and fruit 
crops which can be advantageously grown on the farm. 
This completes his work as a writer of books, but it does 
not begin to cover the multitude of his miscellaneous 
articles which, beginning years before he wrote Garden- 
ing for Profit he kept continually writing until a week 
before his death. 

Another field in which he was always the pioneer, 
and where he did yeoman's work for the general good of 
the profession, was his exposure of horticultural hum- 
bugs, which in some guise or other are continually 
cropping up. One of the best examples of his work in 
this line, and where, in order to get at all particulars, he 
assumed the role of a detective, was his exposure of two 
French worthies, well known in New York a few years 
ago as the " Blue Rose Men." This pair had opened a 
store in Broadway, New York, where they had displayed 
on the walls colored illustrations of the most impossible 
flowers and fruits. For instance they showed a tree on 
which strawberries were growing as big as oranges, 
peaches almost the size of musk-melons, dahlia flowers 
of a celestial blue, etc. When Mr. Henderson arrived, 
one of the voluble proprietors was just dismissing a de- 
lighted old lad}^ who had bought five dollars worth of 
asparagus seeds, at a cent a piece, warranted to produce 
shoots an inch in diameter, in three months from the 
time of sowing. Mr. Henderson stood, looking in rapt 
admiration before a colored plate of blue moss roses, which 
attracted the attention of the polite French salesman, and 
on the price being asked, he brought forth from under the 
counter, three plants, representing them to be moss roses, 
which, by the way, were all alike, and were all our com- 
mon prairie rose. As Mr. Henderson tells the story, the 
following conversation then ensued. The Frenchman 
said, "This one he only bloom once, I tell you the truth, 
so I sell him for two dollar; this one, he be the remontant, 
he bloom twice — just twice — I sell him for three dollar ; 



A MEMOIR. 31 

but this one, he be the everblooming perpetual blue 
moss rose, he bloom all the time, he cheap at five dollar." 
I quietly remarked if it bloomed all the tims, why was 
it not blooming now ? He looked at me pityingly and 
said, " my dear sir, you expect too much. These moss 
rose just come over in the ship from Paris. You take 
him home and plant him and he bloom right away, and 
he keep on blooming." I did not take him home, but I 
took the story, something in the shape it is now told 
and had it published in one of the leading New York 
papers, and in less than a week the " blue rose men" had 
pulled up stakes, but no doubt, to pitch their camp 
somewhere else, and set their traps for new victims." 

While he would in a good-natured way touch up the 
credulity of those who ought to have known better than 
to have allowed themselves to be imposed upon by horti- 
cultural humbugs, his sense of humor was so strong that 
he never failed to tell any similar experience that 
happened at his own expense. One of the best of these 
stories is Dutch Peggy's Red Mignonette, which he tells 
in the following extract from one of his essays written 
a dozen years ago. " I have said that old Peggy was also 
a vender of seeds in Washington Market. It is now some- 
thing over thirty years ago, that a young florist presented 
himself before her and purchased an ounce of migno- 
nette. Ever alive to business, Peggy asked him if he 
had tried the new red mignonette. He protested there 
was no such thing, but Peggy's candid manner persuaded 
him and fifty cents were invested. The seed looked 
familiar, and when it sprouted it looked more familiar, 
when it bloomed it was far too familiar, for it was red 
clover. Peggy has long since been gathered to her 
fathers, and I have entirely forgiven her for selling me 
the red mignonette." 

Except the usual royalties on his books, paid to him 
as an author, for most of his contributions to the various 
horticultural journals, Mr. Henderson did not accept 
pay. At the same time it is hardly necessary to say, 
that for the past twenty-five years at least for whatever 



32 PETER HENDERSON. 

he wrote, publishers were only too glad to offer hi:n a 
liberal remuneration. The American Agriculturist^ desir- 
ous of obtaining all his contributions, for a considerable 
period paid him a price per column that has been con- 
sidered perhaps the largest rate ever paid an American 
writer. About 1869, Tiltoiis Journal of Horticulture^ a 
monthly magazine then published in Boston, but now 
out of existence, offered Peter Henderson $6,000 per 
annum if he would assume the chief editorship. This 
flattering offer he declined. 

In addition to all this he did a great deal of anony- 
mous writing on horticultural matters, which, for suffi- 
cient reasons, he deemed would be more effective than 
if they had appeared over his signature. Then, too, the in- 
novations in culture that he advocated in Gardening 
for Profit and Practical Floriculture, provoked attacks 
which forced him to defend many of what at that time 
seemed radical ideas, but most of which have been long 
since accepted. Besides he had to repel assaults made 
upon him, for ventilating and exposiyg numberless old 
world cultural practices, which in our climate it was found 
worse than useless to follow. As a horticultural instruc- 
tor, he never attempted to teach on any subject with which 
he had not had a personal experience; hence, when any of 
his views were controverted, he not only never hesitated 
to defend them, but few there were in such controver:jies 
that could stand up before his sabre cuts of Saxon speech. 
Over most of his critics, too, he had this great advantage,. 
he could always invite them to " come and see," whether 
the radical ideas he advanced stood the test of actual 
practice. Nor did he stand on the defensive only, his 
good judgment and strong common sense would never 
permit him to accept without investigation the dictum 
of any man, however eminent, on any subject that prop- 
erly came within the field of his profession. We there- 
fore find him taking issue with Charles Darwin's state- 
ment that certain plants such as the Drosera or Sundew 
and our own Carolina Fly-trap [Dionaa Muscipula) are 
fed by the insects which their wonderful structure 



A MEMOIR. 33' 



enables them to catch. With a friend, Mr. Henderson 
made a most thorough and exhaustive experiment in his 
greenhouses with four hundred plants of the Carolina Fly 
Trap, one half of which were so protected by fine wire net- 
ting, that while they had all the necessary light and air, it 
was impossible for them to receive any sustenance except 
that derived from the atmosphere and soil. The remainder 
of the plants were not only regularly "fed" by hand with 
flies and other insects, but were also so exposed, that any 
insects in the greenhouse were liable to be entrapped by 
them. ' The result was that the most careful comparison 
failed to show the slightest difference between those fed 
with insects and those that were not so fed, which satisfied 
him that if the plants digested the insects placed in the 
leaf -traps, the food was in no way beneficial. Without 
expressing any opinion as to whether these plants do, or 
do not flourish on an animal diet, the published reports 
of the various scientists who have investigated the sub- 
ject, clearly indicate, that none of their experiments 
were comparative. We think, therefore, that we can #ith 
propriety volunteer the opinion that such conclusions 
lose half their force, because the tests were not compara- 
tive. And we further believe that in this instance most 
people will be apt to think, that the clear headed gardener 
who made no pretentions to scientific lore, conducted his 
experiments on more practical and logical lines than did 
the eminent men with whose conclusions he could not 
agree. 

We also find him disputing Mr. Darwin's theory of 
what he called " Graft-Hybrids"; this naturalist citing 
a number of instances where seemingly there was an 
amalgamation of the stock and graft. Mr. Henderson's 
views are set forth at some length in an article he 
read before the New York Horticultural Society, in i88t, 
entitled, "-Popular Errors and Scientific Dogmas in 
Horticulture r Among other arguments he advanced to 
refute Mr. Darwin's theory he instanced, *' that during 
the past quarter of a century, millions upon milHons of 
Bartlett pears and Baldwin apples have been grafted 



34 PETER HENDERSON. 

upon millions of stocks, and yet to-day they are as true to 
their individuality as the Concord grape or Wilson straw- 
berry, that are perpetuated by cuttings or runners, and 
not one of them is in any way changed from what it was 
when it first appeared, unless by the temporary accidents 
of soil or climate." This most interesting and valuable 
essay clearly shows the strong scientific instinct that 
Peter Henderson possessed. Its conclusion, with which 
we finish this record of his contributions to horticultural 
literature shows a comprehensiveness and loftiness of 
thought both tersely and grandly expressed. " I believe 
that the smallest or the greatest of God's creations has 
a separate and distinct individuality ; that they can- 
not be blended except by generation, and that the prod- 
uct of generation, whether in the lowest microscopic 
germ, or in the highest type, man, has an individuality 
distinct and separate that it cannot attach to another." 

His Home and Married Life. 

^ter Henderson lived nearly all his life in Jersey City, 
where as citizen, friend and neighbor, no man stood 
higher in the estimation of the community in which for 
over forty years he made his home. There it was that 
he established his roof -tree, after his marriage in New 
York City, in 185 1, to Miss Emily Gibbons, a native of 
Bath, England. She was the daughter of Mr. Thomas 
Gibbons, and the mother of his three children, Alfred, 
Isobel (now Mrs. Robert M. Floyd) and Charles. 

Of her, the companion of his early manhood, the share 
she bore in bye-gone years, in the daily drama of thrift, 
economy and self-denial, even filial devotion cannot ade- 
quately record. To their seventeen years of married 
life she brought every sweet and noble attribute to be 
found in wife and mother. The worldly honors her hus- 
band won she scarcely more than saw, for she died in 
J 868, at the early age of thirty-four years. The turf that 
for these many years has crowned her grave, is not 
greener than is her memory to-day in the hearts of those 
who knew and loved her. All three of her children are 



A MEMOIR. 35 

Still living. Three years after her death Mr. Henderson 
married Miss Jean H. Reid, an intimate friend of his 
first wife, and daughter of his old friend, Mr. Andrew 
Reid.* Mrs. Henderson still survives her husband. 

Personal Appearance, Manner, and other 
Characteristics. 

Six feet in height, broad-shouldered, 38 inches around 
the chest, and 34 inches around the, waist, never weigh- 
ing more than 160 pounds, Peter Henderson was a splen- 
did specimen of physical manhood. His complexion was 
florid, and his keen gray eyes twinkled with humor, fully 
as often as they flashed tire with thought. During his 
latter years, his short-cut hair and closely trimmed beard 
and mustache were gray, but that was the only indication 
of added years about him. A stranger seeing him for the 
first time, would be impressed by his erect carriage, his 
head up and shoulders back, with questioning eyes looking 
straight at the speaker,— that was his first instinctive at- 
titude. This expression changed in an instant, and his 
manner, though always kind and courteous, was depen- 
dent upon the estimate his rapid brain formed of the per- 
son before him. The most ancient of professions, ranks 
among its votaries " all sorts and conditions of men," 
and while Peter Henderson was greatly lacking in ven- 
eration, no man was quicker to see and admire true 
merit, whether in a millionaire or in a humble tiller of 
the soil. His friendship with Andrew Carnegie grew 
out of a letter which he wrote on the spur of the moment, 
to that gentleman after reading his work, " Triumphant 
Democracy," a book which thrilled him to the core. On 
the other hand, he held in the highest esteem, and 
counted among his most valued friends many whom 
fortune, in her smiling moods, had seemingly passed by. 
His eminence in his profession brought him into per- 
sonal contact with many men of national reputation, but 
of all the public men that he knew, perhaps the one he 

* Many gardeners and florists are stUl living who can recall Mr. Reid whose hospi- 
table horn? in East 14th St. forty years ago, was the Mecca towards whicji most 
Scotch gardeners headed on their arrival in New York. 



36 PETER HENDERSON. 

most admired was the late Rev. Henry Ward Beecher. 
The great preacher's well-known love for flowers, brought 
them first together over thirty years ago, and it was a 
treat to see these two men, each so eminent in his own 
sphere, become as enthusiastic as school boys over some 
marvel or beauty in flower or leaf. 

While Mr. Henderson had handled for over thirty 
consecutive years every tool used in the garden or 
greenhouse, he never at any time possessed very great 
muscular strength, but his nervous energy was simply 
tremendous. The Scotch are often characterized as be- 
ing clannish and unable to understand how any other 
nationality can do a thing quite as well as themselves; 
but here was a son of " Auld Scotia " broad enough to 
quickly see and admit superiority in others. For in- 
stance, Scotchman as he was, and retaining to the last a 
great love for his native land, he always averred that 
weight for weight. Irishmen were the strongest physi- 
cally of any people he ever came in contact with. He 
also always contended that no race under the sun could 
handle the spade with the quickness and dexterity of the 
Irish ; and at any time in his long career you could have 
paid him no higher compliment than to have told him 
that, in that department of human endeavor, he could 
handle a spade equal to an Irishman, which he could and 
did. 

In the first portion of this sketch, reference was made 
to the enormous number of letters he wrote during 
his life-time, and it should have been there told, that for 
at least the first twenty years of that time he made out 
his own bills, kept his own books and filled the greater 
part of the plant orders himself. When about the age of 
fifty years, he began gradually to ease up in his personal 
labor, but even in the last year of his life, the amount 
of work he accomplished daily would have been un- 
usiial for most men of fifty. As far back as 1865, this 
ciiormous amount of writing caused an attack of " pen 
paralysis," or as it is sometimes called, " writer's cramp "; 
by stopping all writing for four or five months it disap- 



A MEMOIR. 37 



peared, and, although he subsequently wrote more than 
ever, he never had a recurrence of that trouble. He 
was one of the most rapid penmen we have ever known, 
and when he wrote comparatively slowly, his penmanship 
was really beautiful, and had an individuality of its own 
so marked, that of the millions of letters received during 
the past f ortv years, we cannot recall more than a dozen 
instances in "which the writing in any way resembled 
his. His hands were finely shaped, and pen or pencil 
he always held in the orthodox way as delineated on 
the covers of copy books. 

Mr. Henderson was not only an abstainer from liquor, 
but tobacco in any form he never touched. He was very 
regular in his habits, and simple in his tastes. Up to the 
close of his life he made it a rule to spend from three to 
four hours every day in the open air. All this un- 
doubtedly enabled him to perform the enormous amount 
of work he accomplished. He was a very rapid walker 
and for short distances, a fast runner. Before the iron 
gates were put on the ferry boats plying between Jersey 
City and New York, he was always one of the first men 
off the boat ; and when verging on three score years and 
ten, he moved so rapidly that he would overtake most 
pedestrians between the ferry-slip and his stores in New 
York, a distance of only three blocks. 

While we know that industrious men are by no means 
rare, the remarkable feature of Peter Henderson's indus- 
try was, that it was always accompanied by a wonderful 
rapidity of movement, whether of brain or body, and 
in this respect it was unusual. His rapidity and ac- 
curacy of decision were remarkable, and yet while capa- 
ble of grasping large outlines of work or enterprises, he 
paid an attention to all details that was as painstaking 
as it was indefatigable. 

In horticulture, either here or abroad, in certain respects 
he had no prototype. The annals of the profession may 
be searched in vain to find where any one man attained 
the same degree of eminence which Peter Henderson 
secured at one and the same time, in three distinct 



38 PETER HENDERSON. 

divisions of horticulture. To have been either the 
leading florist, great seed merchant, or the versatile 
horticultural writer, would have been fame enough for 
most men. So when it is considered that he held almost 
the highest rank in all three departments, we begin to 
imderstand how wonderful his genius and his industry- 
must have been 

* 

His Modesty and Freedom from Envy and Jealousy. 

His modesty as regards his own unusual achievements 
showed the rare balance of his mind. What he had ac- 
complished, he knew, — no man better, — but he never 
boasted of it, nor in any way was he ever egotistical. 
No man ever rejoiced at another's success more than he. 
Envy was foreign to him and jealousy unknown; in fact 
whenever he could applaud merit in another, he took 
the greatest delight in so doing. Although a public 
spirited man in the best sense, he never could be in- 
duced to hold any public office. 

He was, however, at one time a director in the Bergen 
Savings Bank, Jersey City, which througfh the misman- 
agement of its president, suffered a large deficit. For 
this neither Mr. Henderson nor his fellow directors were 
responsible; but he, and two or three others felt that as 
their names had been used in the directorate, they were 
morally so, and, they therefore paid out of their own 
pockets the bank's loss, so that every depositor was paid 
in full. 

During the last twenty years of his life he was 
asked to fill man 3^ positions of honor from his own city, 
the state, and the nation, and the strongest pressure 
was several times brought to bear, to make him accept , 
but he was inflexible — refusing them all. While no 
man ever realized his power better than he did in certain 
directions, no one more clearly understood his own 
limitations. 



A MEMOIR- 39 



His Humor and Pathos. 
He could hardlv be called a wit, but he had a rare 
fund of humor, and few men possessed a keener sense 
of the ridiculous than he, and while his sense of the 
ridiculous was ever near the surface, no man was 
more careful not to hurt another's feelings. The weak- 
nesses of his fellow men never aroused his sarcasm 
but pretence or affectation of any sort, he would cut 
with words of scathing scorn. Genuine himself he 
despised all false metal, and in small things, as well as 
in great, no man ever rang more true. , 

He was ever' easily approached, and many a man and 
Avoman to-day bless him for the time he took from his 
busv days, to write them a letter of desired counsel, or 
the ^ few moments he gave to impart. asked for advice. 
His sympathy was universal ; no man had a more tender 
heart than he, towards suffering or distress of any kind. 
His helpful words of hope and chaer have been an in- 
spiration to thousands who to-day have an ache at their 
hearts because he walks this earth no more. 

His Love of Poetry and Fiction. 

Many who saw only the practical business side of 
Peter Henderson, will be surprised to know that he was 
as full of poetry and sentiment as he was of hard com- 
xnon sense. He was" very fond of novel -reading ; his 
favorite authors being Scott and Dickens, and few of 
the general reading public were better posted on modern 
light literature of the day than he. His love of poetry 
was very marked, and, as a Scotsman, he was naturally 
fond of Burns' poems, at the same time he had a decided 
preference for poetry that had a war-like ring. Camp- 
bell's" Hohenlinden," Tennyson's" Charge of the Light 
Brigade " " Lord Clyde of Clydesdale," and especially Sir 
Walter Scott's "Lady of the Lake,' and ; Marmion 
were great favorites with him. Of all poetical produc- 
tions, however, "Marmion" always held the first place 
m his affections. ^^ We cannot better illustrate the senti- 



40 PETER HENDERSON. 

mental side of his nature than by a quotation rrom a let- 
ter he sent to his sister from Scotland, where he had 
found the neglected grave of his mother, and over which 
he had placed a tombstone. After giving some details 
of what he had done, occurs this sentence, " No one in 
whom our blood flows will ever likely see it again, but 
I could not go away without showing this little token of 
remembrance." 

Love of Animals. 

He was very fond of animals, but especially so of dogs 
and cats, and it was his delight when an hour of leisure 
came to enjoy his many pets. A Scotch collie dog called 
Wattie, that he had taught to perform a number of 
tricks, was a particular favorite. A magnificent St. 
Bernard dog named Jeff, grand and dignified, he owned 
for many years. But fond as he was of dogs, he was 
even more so of cats ; and as long as we can remember, 
there were always four or five around the place. If he 
came across a cat in the street, or in fact anywhere, he 
was sure to pick it up and fondle it. In the seclusion of 
his home, he almost invariably lay stretched at full 
length on a sofa, after the cares of the day, with some 
favorite puss on his breast, his kind eyes half closed, 
and say to those near him, "Just listen to that singing; 
how, isn't that music ?" Time and again he could be 
seen walking through his grounds with a favorite cat 
on his shoulder, who, from his high perch, seemed liter- 
ally to be " monarch of all he surveyed." His fondness 
for cats must have begun at an early day, as the follow- 
ing reminiscence of " Bothy " life indicates, and for 
which Mr. Wilson stands sponsor. After telling how he 
would always stop to talk to and fondle a cat, Mr. 
Wilson says that one dark night, when they were 
both on their way to the mathematical school in Edin- 
burgh, in jumping a wide ditch they heard a splash 
just as they landed on the other side. While they 
were wondering what the noise meant, they heard a 
meow, and in a few seconds the " Bothy " cat with whom 



A MEMOIR. 41 

Peter was the chief favorite, emerged from the water. 
Peter picked up his faithful follower, and after petting 
him, threw him back over the ditch, telling him at the 
same time to " clear away home." When the youths re- 
turned at midnight over the same route they were sur- 
prised to see the " Bothy " cat waiting for them by the 
ditch, and supposed he had remained there when he was 
thrown back, but to their surprise they learned from their 
fellow apprentices that "^ the cat had returned to the 
Bothy, dried himself over a furnace, and then gone back 
and patiently waited for the return of his master. No 
wonder half a century later when a grandchild sug- 
gested that cats were ungrateful and had poor memo- 
ries, that he should have said : " The poor Beastie! How 
can you say that ? Look at old Tom, how he jumps up 
on my shoulder and sits there while I go half over the 
place. Isn't that love and memory ?" 

He was naturally very fond of company; but his life 
was such a busy one as to leave him but little time to 
mingle much in society, yet at social gatherings he was 
always an interesting and humorous talker, and a good 
story teller. He had a faculty, too, that few suspected, 
in being a splendid mimic. 

Love for his Adopted Land. 

He always retained a tender feeling for the land of 
his birth, of which another of her worthy sons, Mr. 
James Hope Park* has sung : 

There is a land I dearly love, 
The land of song and fame 
Where roses blow, and daisies grow, 
My ain loved hamc, 

But we would be recreant to his memory, did we fail 
to record the almost passionate love Peter Henderson 
felt for America and American institutions. No " native 
here and to the manner born " was prouder of his citi- 

* Mr. Park, formerly of Brooklyn, New York, but now of Canonbie, Scotland, was for 
over thirty years, perhaps of all men, Mr. He .derson's most intimate and cherished 
friend. 



42 PETER HENDERSON. 

zenship in this Republic. As soon as practicable after 
his arrival in this country he became naturalized and he 
always urged all those from the old world, with whom 
he came in contact and who intended to settle here, that 
it was their first duty to become citizens of this — the 
greatest of nations. 

Last Days. 

Mr. Henderson all his life was a very healthy man. 
Until his death, he never had but one serious ill- 
ness, an attack of pleurisy twenty-five years before. 
Regular and temperate as he was, he was careless of him- 
self in many ways, and even when he was past sixty, 
time and again we have seen him going the rounds of his 
place in winter in his shirt sleeves. For two years 
previous to his last illness he declared that he felt, and 
he looked, almost as strong as he ever did, and frequently 
commented on the physical vigor he maintained and 
the amount of work he was still able to perform, for a 
man of his years. He was always very regular in his 
habits, and held to his routine work up to January 3d 
last. On the evening of that day when he returned 
home from his New York office, he showed unmistak- 
able signs of having "la grippe." Mrs. Henderson had 
no trouble in inducing him to remain within doors, and the 
next day she sent for Dr. Bidwell. The attack was light 
and he was advised to stay in the house for a few days. 
On the few occasions in his life that he had been ailing 
a little, he was very impatient of such restraint, but 
now he was willing to obey the doctor's instructions. 
By January loth, the influenza seemed to have disap- 
peared, and tempted by a sunshiny day, he ventured to 
the greenhouses, just across the street from his resi- 
dence. His wife did her utmost to keep him in the 
house, but he felt so well that he thought he was running 
no risk. Mrs. Henderson, however, took the precaution to 
have him heavily wrapped up, but he had not been out 
of the house twenty minutes when he returned chilled 
through. He was at once put to bed and remedies 



A MEMOIR. 43 

administered. Next morning he expressed himself as 
feeling all right again. About this time, however, both 
Dr. Bidwell and the family thought it advisable to bring 
another physician in, and his old and life-long friend, 
Dr. A. A. Lutkins, was called. He was carefully exam- 
ined by both physicians from time to time, for symptoms 
of pneumonia, but until Monday evening the 13th, no 
symptoms appeared. 

About this time he received a letter from the editor 
of the Florida Dispatch, enclosing a clipping that had 
been going the rounds of the press, stating that the 
famous rose " American Beauty " was of American origin, 
and asking Mr. Henderson if this were true. He pen- 
cilled a reply, stating the circumstances under which it 
was found, and that the variety was really an old French 
rose, " Madame Ferdinand Jamain." This was the last 
article he wrote, and it was written on what literally 
proved to be his death -bed. With characteristic thorough- 
ness, in that article, he also mentioned the leading roses 
that were of American origin. 

All through his illness he was bright and cheerful. 
Monday morning, January 13, when his son Charles 
called, he was in excellent spirits. In reply to what kind 
of a night he had passed, he said, " rather a bad one, but 
I feel a great deal better this morning," adding with a 
smile, " do you know, Charlie, that at one time I thought 
it was " Good-night to Marmion." That same morning 
a characteristic incident occured. Among a few letters 
that he had intended to answer personally, was one from 
a gardener, asking if he could' give him employment in 
his greenhouses. This letter he handed to his son, say- 
ing, "tell him we cannot take him on, Charlie, but be sure 
you do it kindly." That same Monday night, pneu- 
monia set in. There is every reason to believe that he 
had a conviction, that this attack would prove fatal ; 
for, a few days before he died, in conversation with his 
daughter, Mrs. Floyd, he said " do you know, " (calling 
her by a pet name he had given her in childhood) 
"that I have an idea that I won't get over this attack, 



44 PETER HENDERSON. 

and, strange as it may seem, I really don't mucn care;" 
he paused for a moment, and then the philosophy with 
which he had met every sorrow or trouble' in life, did 
not fail him, as he uttered these words. "It is a wise 
provision of Nature that, as we grow older, our hold on 
life loosens." 

After the dreaded pneumonia appeared, the days and 
nights passed all too rapidly to the anxious watchers, 
who saw the life they so much loved steadily ebbing 
away. The same wifely thoughtf ulness that looked after 
this beloved man in the first symptoms of his illness, 
was shown still further in the tender care and solicitude 
Mrs. Henderson gave him night and day, up to his last 
moments. To her, he was the world, and if her unceas- 
ing devotion could have saved him, he would have been 
with us still to-day. He retained perfect consciousnes 
up to eleven o'clock, Thursday night, Jan. i6th ; at that 
hour delirium ensued from the mental eclipse of which 
he never again emerged. When Friday morning dawned 
it was seen that the end was near, and at exactly half 
past ten o'clock, all was over — he had crossed the frontier 
of this life, to enter as we fondly hope, the radiant 
gardens of Paradise. 

The funeral services were held in the First Presby- 
terian Church of Jersey City, on Monday, Jan. 20th, 
1890. Notwithstanding a heavy down-pour of rain, the 
church was unable to contain the great throng, many 
of whom came from distant states to testify their 
respect for the deceased. The Pastor, the Rev. Charles 
Herr, delivered an eloquent and impressive tribute to 
the well rounded life which had come to a close. 

The vSociety of American Florists were represented 
by a committee of fifty, and other organizations to 
which he belonged were also in attendance. The same 
Monday afternoon his remains were interred in the fam- 
ily plot in Greenwood Cemetery, Brooklyn, N. Y. 



A MEMOIR. 45 

His Rank in Horticultural History. 

Mr. William R. Smith, for nearly thirty-five years super- 
intendent of the Botanic Gardens at Washington, and 
a man highly distinguished for his botanical research, 
paid him the highest possible tribute in terming him " the 
great horticultural missionary ; " and Mr. E. E. Smith, in 
an address delivered before the California Horticultural 
Society, in San Francisco, last February, not only dilated 
on the great loss horticulture had sustained in his death, 
but expressed the general feeling, that the extent of Peter 
Henderson's services would hold his memory in lasting 
remembrance. Here are a few passages from Mr. Smith's 
eulogy ; *' Peter Henderson is dead. There has come 
to the Goddess Flora a grief, and the sad sweet tones of 
her funeral chant, as they float o'er the great man's grave, 
are echoed by the odors of millions of flowers. No one 
will ever know the laurels that in memory have been 
placed upon his grave by sorrowing human hearts. One 
of nature's noblemen, he embowered our windows with 
climbing vines, and adorned and made beautiful our door- 
yards with bright flowers; he made green our lawns and 
fruitful our gardens. He is dead, but the flowers with 
which he has strewn the pathway of life will emblazon 
forever his memory upon earth." 

Mr. A. D. Cowan paid a beautiful and appreciative 
tribute to his memory in a paper read before the New 
York Florists' Club, March lo, 1890. Among other 
things in his eloquent address Mr. Cowan said: " No 
man ever lived who carried on his researches under 
greater difficulties, and no one ever exercised greater 
perseverance to gain a full knowledge of the subject 
which claimed his attention. No one but he handled 
the pioneer's pen which brought the dark, selfish and 
ignorant methods of the old School of Horticulture 
into daylight ; and to Peter Henderson will belong for 
generations to come the credit of popularizing, improv- 
ing, and developing gardening in these United States." 

The opinions above quoted are but types of hundreds 



46 PETER HENDERSON. 

of expressions given utterance to both by individuals 
and horticultural journals after his death, and when this 
significant fact is remembered that from 1866 up to this 
hour that his horticultural teachings have not been trav- 
ersed to any appreciable degree, it shows conclusively 
the popular estimate which has been placed upon his 
works ; and that judgment steadily maintained for a 
quarter of a century, posterity is not likely to reverse. 
The unpretentious man who, during the last twenty-five 
years of his life, received eulogistic letters and personal 
thanks from at least seventy thousand people, for what 
his horticultural writings alone had done for them, left 
an impress that will endure far beyond his day and 
generation. 

The coming years we doubt not will be guardians of 
his fame ; for wherever rugged manhood toils with 
plow or spade, the memory of Peter Henderson will lend 
dignity and hope unto his labor. Wherever gentle 
woman bends anxiously o'er fragile blossoms, the memory 
of Peter Henderson will be as dew to fall upon their 
petals. And those who honored him may feel sure of 
this, that his monument will be enduring, for it is rooted 
in old Mother Earth, and in the flowers, her faithful 
children. 

His Possibilities. 

It is somewhat remarkable that, in the multitude of trib- 
utes paid to the memory of Peter Henderson, many 
would so far digress as to dwell upon his possibilities in 
other walks of life. That he would have attained dis- 
tinction in almost any direction was a very commonly 
expressed opinion. Some were so far interested in his 
career as to suggest certain lines in which, if he had 
received the essential education, he would have attained 
eminence. For instance the Phrenological Journal said, 
** if he had been trained to engineering in its broadest 
sense, literature in connection with science, law in con- 
nection with ethics, he would have been a strong man." 
Singularly enough there is one calling which so fav as 



A MEMOIR. 47 

we know has not suggested itself to any one, but in which 
we believe, had he had the preliminary training, he would 
have attained great distinction — we mean, the profession 
of arms. To begin with, a soldier's career always had the 
strongest fascination for him ; and all his life, many of his 
spoken as well as his written thoughts, were tinctured 
with a martial ring. Then his intellectual characteristics, 
or at least those which predominated, were such as are 
usually found in military men of the first order; and 
finally, he possessed in the highest degree attributes, 
where in victory he would have displayed the magna- 
nimity of Ulysses S. Grant, and in defeat, the serenity 
of Robert E. Lee. 

Conclusion. 

From the griefs and troubles that line our road from 
the cradle to the grave, he was not exempt ; but, over 
all, his life was a happy one. Blessed with good health 
all his days, showered with the gratitude and applause 
of his fellow-men, finding in the daily contemplation of 
plant life, a delight and a charm of which he never wear- 
ied, with the consciousness which for him had a special 
significance, " that he who makes two blades of grass 
grow where but one grew before, is a benefactor to his 
race;" and then at last to die, as he always hoped he 
might die, "in harness," Peter Henderson, when his 
hour came, calmly and smilingly bade the world good 
night. 

During the forty-two years of his business life, Mr. 
Henderson employed a large number of people, many 
of whom hav long since preceded him to the grave. 
Could we gather the testimony of that fragment of the 
silent host, we may be sure it would be akin to that which 
the living f c It, when his great heart ceased to beat — that 
in him had been lost, not only the just and generous 
employer, the unselfish adviser, but the best of friends. 
From those who in business relations stood closest to 
him, down to the humblest employe, all mourned and 
will miss for many a day the presence of the king-like 
man whose kindly sceptre swayed them all. 



48 PETER HENDERSON. 

Great Chieftain of our gentle art, hail and farewell I 
Not thy just renown, not the memory of thy blameless 
life, which in days to come will be the heritages we most 
shall cherish — not these, but the sorrow of those mourn- 
ing their kindred dust still lingers uppermost. For thine 
own, there will remain while life lasts the recollection 
of thy tender care and unselfish devotion, hallowed by 
a love that began at our cradles, and which through all 
the cares of thy long and busy life, thou didst maintain, 
even unto thy dying hour. To thy children's children, 
who in future years may happily recall thee, we trust 
will long be mirrored in their hearts, the memory of thy 
kindly face, illuminated then as now by the halo of thy 
imperishable glory. 



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